El Fuego y La Flor - The Storm

Chapter 11 - We escape death, narrowly (No one is surprised.)

Cassia

It didn't literally explode. It was more like, a giant wave of water crushing the walls and rushing into our room. It was chaos. Our connection to Camp broke off immediately, my prism of light getting washed away into the vast ocean. I screamed but I couldn't hear my own voice over the sound of the water. I somehow found a way to hold onto Leo, while he held onto the door. The water slowly begun to subside, rushing out of the room again, leaving us under shock but not dead or injured. I held onto Leo like my life depended on it (which it did, in my eyes) and only let go when the water had stopped rushing through our cabin. I looked up to examine the wall - or what remained of it.
The entire side of the room had crumbled. The TV, the single chair and a leg of the table had been washed away by the ocean. The wave shouldn't even have reached that high up, but it did. I hoped to the gods that the people in the cabins next to ours weren't in there anymore. I just hoped they got up early, happy and content and left for breakfast, not thinking about monster waves destroying their vacation.

»Are you okay?« Leo now asked, still clinging onto the door. I nodded quickly, my eyes scanning for the red and orange hue of my backpack. It didn't get washed away, right? For some reason, I was lucky to say, it didn't. I found it hanging outside, just right where the wall had been, off of a pole which held a higher floor in space. I sighed in relief and carefully made my way to the other side of the small cabin, to take my backpack. I was so scared that another wave would show up, that I didn't even notice the hand that reached for the ground next to me. I let out a pitched scream, but instead of jumping backwards, I slammed my backpack on the fingers of the creature until it let go and fell down. It was a Nymph. Not a pretty one. It looked like it had drowned, which, I assume, wasn't possible for Nymphs. But still, its greyish complexion and the wary eyes, filled with hunger... the green highlights in her tangled up, algae like hair having lost its spark, that all added up to the Nymphs sick-ish look. She let out an inhuman hiss-scream mix right before vanishing into the ocean. I exhaled softly and then, without turning around, I hurried back to Leo, my gaze still fixed on the now opened side of the room.

I stretched out a hand until I found Leo's arm, then I clung to his sleeve again, like a lost child would cling to its mother after reunion.
»Did you just beat the Nymph with your backpack?«
»Yeah.« I was out of breath, but nodded.
»That's... pretty cool.«
»Thanks.«
We saw the next wave before it hit us. It rolled towards us, growing with every passing second, it was still about 500 meters away, but already almost as high as the previous wave.
»We should leave.« I stated the obvious.
Leo opened the door and I tightened the strap of my backpack, then we ran out of the room, just zig zagging our way through the hallways. When the cruise got hit by the wave, everything tilted to the left for a moment, Leo and I both stumbled against the wall, but we just kept running. I didn't know where we were going, until we ended up on the highest deck. Not where the pools were, but the outdoor playground for activities, and the landing place for a helicopter, in case of emergencies. I considered this an emergency but I got the feeling that mortals didn't really get the direness of the situation. I stumbled again as another wave hit the ship. The water swept over the railing, lingered around our shoes. My socks were already completely soaked. For some reason that upset me, it wasn't like we were about to face the inevitable titanic destiny of our cruise ship.

The wind was tugging on our clothes and hair now, whistling next to our ears, as if it was mocking us. We just tried to get our breath back from running across a whole ship, but whatever was attacking us right now, it didn't intend for us to have a break. Nymphs clawed their way back on board. Maybe they had heard about the pedicures on board, which some desperately needed, but most of them just looked like they wanted to kill us. Their faces were thin and tired, their eyes deep inside their sockets, staring at us like starving predators. Whatever had happened to those, once beautiful beings, it must have been awful.
I grabbed onto my necklace, as if I could defend myself with that, the Nymphs drawing closer and now, of all times, Leo begun looking through his tool belt for some Anti-Nymph spray.
It took longer than I would have wanted. I originally intended to try and keep my temper and patience in check, but that was difficult, when an army of half dead water creatures approached you.